PDF Auditor

A WordPress multisite plugin to scan and catalog all PDFs across your network, export metadata as CSV, and identify PDFs for accessibility remediation.

Features

• Network-wide PDF Scanning: View all PDFs across your WordPress multisite in one place
• Expandable Site List: Accordion interface to view PDFs for each site individually
• PDF Metadata: Track filename, direct URL, upload date, and file size for each PDF
• CSV Export: Download PDF metadata for a site as a CSV file for further analysis
• Accessibility Audit: Identify inaccessible PDFs that need remediation
• No PDF Downloads: This tool catalogs metadata only; actual PDF downloads are a separate process

Installation

1. Download or clone this plugin into your /wp-content/plugins/ directory
2. Activate it from the Network Admin → Plugins menu (must network-activate)
3. Navigate to Network Admin → PDF Auditor to begin scanning

Requirements

• WordPress Multisite enabled
• WordPress 5.0 or higher
• PHP 7.4 or higher
• Network admin access to use the tool

Usage

Accessing the Tool

1. Go to Network Admin Dashboard
2. Click on PDF Auditor in the sidebar
3. You'll see an accordion list of all sites in your network

Scanning a Site for PDFs

1. Click on a site name to expand it
2. The plugin scans that site's media library for PDFs
3. A table appears showing:
   • Filename: The name of the PDF file
   • Direct Link: A link to view/download the PDF
   • Upload Date: When the PDF was added to the media library
   • File Size: Size of the PDF file

Exporting PDF Data

1. With a site expanded, click the "Download CSV for this site" button
2. The CSV file will download with the filename format: [Site Name] - WordPress PDF listing - [Date].csv
3. Open the CSV in Excel or Google Sheets to analyze, sort, and track remediation

CSV Export Format

The exported CSV contains four columns:

Column	Description
Filename	The PDF filename
Direct Link	URL to the PDF file
Upload Date	Date and time the PDF was uploaded
File Size	Size of the file (e.g., 2.5 MB)

Accessibility Remediation Workflow

Suggested workflow for improving PDF accessibility:

1. Audit Phase (This Tool)

   • Use PDF Auditor to catalog all PDFs
   • Export CSV files for each site
   • Review with your team to identify priority PDFs

2. Analysis Phase (External)

   • Test PDFs for accessibility issues
   • Mark PDFs as "to be kept," "to be deleted," or "to be remediated"
   • Track in your CSV files

3. Remediation Phase (Future Enhancement)

   • Re-create PDFs with accessible formatting
   • Upload new versions to replace old ones
   • Or delete if no longer needed

Technical Details

Database Queries

• The plugin queries only the wp_posts table with post_type = 'attachment' and post_mime_type = 'application/pdf'
• It uses WordPress's native WP_Query class for proper data handling

Performance

• Each site scan loads only that site's PDFs
• Uses AJAX to prevent page timeout on large PDF collections
• No pagination limit (loads all PDFs for a site at once)

Multisite Handling

• Properly uses switch_to_blog() and restore_current_blog() for multisite queries
• Respects user capabilities (requires network admin)
• Generates nonces for all AJAX requests

CSV Generation

• Uses PHP's built-in fputcsv() for proper CSV encoding
• Handles special characters and quotes correctly
• Sanitizes filenames for safe downloads

Troubleshooting

"PDF Auditor requires WordPress Multisite to be enabled"

This plugin only works on multisite installations. It cannot be activated on single-site WordPress.

No PDFs showing for a site

• The site may not have any PDFs in the media library
• Check that PDFs are actually uploaded (not just links to external PDFs)
• Ensure they're stored as application/pdf MIME type

Large number of PDFs (100+)

• The table will load all PDFs for a site at once (no pagination)
• This is intentional for accessibility audit purposes
• Use your browser's Find function (Ctrl+F) to search within the table

CSV doesn't download

• Check that JavaScript is enabled in your browser
• Verify you have network admin permissions
• Check browser console for errors (F12)

File Structure

pdf-auditor/
├── pdf-auditor.php           # Main plugin file
├── includes/
│   └── class-pdf-auditor.php # Main plugin class
├── assets/
│   ├── css/
│   │   └── pdf-auditor.css   # Plugin styles
│   └── js/
│       └── pdf-auditor.js    # Plugin JavaScript
├── languages/                 # For future i18n
└── README.md                  # This file

Security

• All AJAX requests include nonce verification
• Capability checks ensure only network admins can access the tool
• Data is properly escaped for safe output in HTML
• Uses wp_get_attachment_url() and get_attached_file() for safe file path handling

License

PolyForm Noncommercial License 1.0.0

Support & Contributing

For issues, questions, or contributions, please reach out to the plugin author.

Changelog

1.0.0

• Initial release
• Network admin page with accordion site list
• Per-site PDF scanning and display
• CSV export functionality
• Responsive design